U.S. Plans To Give Stolen Jewish Property Back to Iraq

PHOENIX, March 18, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ — Unless immediate action is taken, the U.S. State Department will return invaluable Jewish artifacts to the government of Iraq instead of their rightful owners. Jewish Voice Ministries International is mobilizing the Christian community with a petition drive of one million signatures to prevent the dispersed Iraqi Jewish community from losing their history and personal possessions to the government that persecuted them.

President and CEO Jonathan Bernis articulates the injustice, “We didn’t return the belongings of the Jewish people who suffered in the Holocaust to the German government. Why would we stand by and allow this terrible injustice to take place?”

Background: The Jewish community in Iraq existed for 2,600 year before 1930’s Nazi propaganda ushered in persecution including seizure of property, pogroms, and public hangings. Many Jews fled the country, leaving behind personal possessions. After the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, U.S. troops discovered thousands of Jewish artifacts in the flooded basement of Iraq’s intelligence headquarters. Invaluable artifacts included a 16th-century Hebrew Bible, a 1902 hand-lettered Haggadah guidebook, and Torah fragments, stolen by Hussein’s secret police from Jewish synagogues and schools. The U.S. signed an agreement with Iraq’s provisional government, allowing them to salvage the archive and spend two million dollars to restore it. The State Department agreed to return the fully restored archive to the Iraqi government in the summer of 2014, although five Jewish people reside in Iraq, and despite the fact that Iraq refuses to recognize Israel’s statehood.

Action is critical – Jewish Voice Ministries urges the U.S. Christian community to stand against further injustice for this persecuted Jewish community. The digital petition to Secretary of State John Kerry can be signed at www.rescuejewishproperty.org, for delivery to the State Department on May 30, 2014.

Resources: Video: An Inside Look at Injustice – An interview with Ambassador Zvi Gabay, whose family fled to Israel to escape Iraqi persecution.